It wont have escaped Jim Malinder's notice that Glasgow cannot defend a driven lineout. I suspect that will lead to at least a couple of tries for the Saints.I guess a lot depends on how much Northampton want to qualify for the quarters. Their last game is away at Scarlets who are already out, so a bonus point win against Glasgow would do very nicely.It could be another messy match from a weegie point of view.

If Fagerson starts, I have faith that the scrum can be won (Northampton have lost Brookes) or at least matched by Glasgow. Naka has not been as influential this year as he gets targeted and would be tempted to play him at 8 with Cummings or Paterson starting in the 2nd row. Give him a bit more space to operate.

Hazel Sapling wrote:If Fagerson starts, I have faith that the scrum can be won (Northampton have lost Brookes) or at least matched by Glasgow. Naka has not been as influential this year as he gets targeted and would be tempted to play him at 8 with Cummings or Paterson starting in the 2nd row. Give him a bit more space to operate.

Not only Fagerson has to start but Glasgow need NOT to play Ryan Grant if they want to get stability at the scrum.

Scottrf wrote:I don't think that Hill is the scrummager Brookes is though. Our scrum hasn't looked as dominant since Brookes has been out.

Concur with that. Brookes is arguably THE TIGHTHEAD for England IMHO where Hill is borderline England squad due to injuries (Brookes) and incredible loss of form (Wilson). Good player none the less. Just feel Reid vs Hill is a wash, Brown is not a bad hooker and Fagerson would have a good go against Waller whereas Puafisi...the match would have to be played after 9pm.

Hill has the potential to be a far better prop than Kieran 30 minutes Brookes. Seriously mobile for a tight head as well.

Be interesting to see which Saints team appears. In dry conditions they looked like they were going to concede a record number of points against Tigers last weekend. When the rain cane down they were pretty impressive and nearly stole the win.

A big issue for Glasgow is that Poite is reffing and he always favours the scrum moving forwards (rightly or wrongly), and is not afraid to heavily penalise the inferior scrum. Once his mind is made up at the first couple of scrums, it's pretty tricky to convince him otherwise that there could be shenangans in play.

The Glasgow scrum is powderpuff and hugely inexperienced. If the conditions are heavy then I can see Glasgow really struggling to get a foothold in this game. It is also worth noting that Saints channel a fair bit of heavy traffic through the middle and once momentum is with them can be very hard to stop. Having the likes of Wilson providing nothing more than a bit of slap and tickle off the ball will not stop the Northampton juggernaut. Missing Horne, Vernon, Dunbar and Bennett also leaves a rather nasty problem at centre. I wonder whether Sean Lamont will be drafted in to stop the likes of Burrell and Pisi blasting through.

A back row of Harley, Favaro and Strauss would be really handy for this one, as would a fully fit and firing Mike Cusack. I'd also be very tempted to ditch Nakarawa to the bench as well. On a dry, fast running track he is truly world class, but this will more than likely be an arm wrestle and in the tight stuff he can go missing (plus his offloads tend to become a liability). I would suggest a more gritty combination of Jonny Gray and Tim Swinson.

Glasgow needs to get out of that Scotstoun sh1th0le going forwards, the pitch is never playable, it doesn't suit the style of rugby Glasgow wants to play, last season it was too small for potential fans and to make things worse it has an athletic track around it.

VinceWLB wrote:Glasgow needs to get out of that Scotstoun sh1th0le going forwards, the pitch is never playable, it doesn't suit the style of rugby Glasgow wants to play, last season it was too small for potential fans and to make things worse it has an athletic track around it.

Hopefully this will now really concentrate minds going forward. Toonie coming out and saying the pitch 'was not fit for purpose' in the media was no accident. He was deliberately trying to get something done about it, either a artificial pitch at Scotstoun or need to move.

Article in the Scotsman about Lee Jones playing at 9. The article hints that the switch could become a permanent one, then back tracks from that pretty quickly.

""I enjoyed it and Gregor [Townsend, Glasgow’s coach] has always said it is an option but I didn’t get on the pitch,” said Jones when quizzed about making the move full time. “It is an option but Glasgow see me as a winger first and foremost.”

The front row on the bench looks better suited to standing up to the Saints in the scrum and the starting front row looks more suited to racing around the park when the opposition are tired late on.

I thought Oscar Peterson would have been in after his good performance in Paris but apparently the pack is big enough and heavy enough without him.

Batman-Fozzie-Arthur is a light back row, but it's also very fast and creative. Are we hoping to keep the ball alive and away from their pack?

Great to see Pudding back. Let's hope he sorts Pisi out early on.

Burrell against Johnson should tell us everything we need to know about young Sam's future at the club. No pressure on him there then.

I don't care who knows it but I have been impressed with the Selkirk Pixie since he went on the 7's bandwagon. He has worked really hard at rebuilding his game (and his physique; the club website has him as approx. the same height and weight as Hoggy) and deserves a start. As with Johnson Toonie seems to be saying, "Deal with George North. Show us you're good enough and you have a future here."

Remember what Dylan Thomas said,

"Do not go gently into that good night, rage, rage against the dying of the light"

Toonie has picked a team that will play fast, expansive rugby and either win well or go down swinging.

Batman-Fozzie-Arthur is a light back row, but it's also very fast and creative. Are we hoping to keep the ball alive and away from their pack? rank average, verging on substandard back row who will be eaten alive by a monstrous Saints pack.

Waller and Hill get about a bit with Haywood to increase mobility on 60 minutes if JM does his normal.

Lawes is a vey mobile lock and Day in no slouch so locks are mobile athletic sorts, and with Harrison at 8, Saints will be emulating Australia in the way the use the pack. Dickson feeding little pop passes flat to runners like Harrison, Gibson and Lawes coming in at full speed.

Big problem is that if Saints instead have Dickson stamping his feet, slapping hi sthighs, whinging to the ref and then popping the pass. He has to move quickly - which he has struggled with the last month or so.

WELL-PAST-IT wrote:I thought Dickson was better against Tigers, got some runners moving and anyway Poite doesn't speak German or Geordie so Dickson whinging won't do him any good anyway

Apparently the last time Poite reffed Saints, he said something like 'this guy is breaking my balls (in French)' about Dickson.

"ce mec est me casser les coquilles", that's what you get for listening to a whining 9 with a sort of semi Geordie accent. Not how I would have said it in my limited French, but what my work mate who comes from Jersey says it translates to. Anyway, he should know by know that scrum halves are always right and if he had listened and acted accordingly, Dickson would have stopped.

Barnsey didn't have too many problems at the weekend and he has little tolerance for mouthy 9's or 2s for that matter, luckily Hartley was injured for the game.

Agree about Dickson. A lot of the slow ball Saints are getting starts from the 9s. In the past Dickson was a high energy guy which got the backs moving quickly. Seems to me Lee Dickson and JJ don't mesh very well.

Day will be doing his excellent breakdown work and hopefully everyone else will be running. This pack has a lot of potential, at least until the subs come on.

Agreed Doc, but Glasgow have been functioning about 95%. The problem is that our high tempo off-loading game has very little room for error. The difference between being well beaten by Racing and pulling off a morale lifting win was probably three or four dropped passes or line breaks that fizzled out. IF passes stick early on and support runners get onto off loads then we can win comfortably tomorrow but we can just as easily lose by twenty-five points.

jimbopip wrote:Agreed Doc, but Glasgow have been functioning about 95%. The problem is that our high tempo off-loading game has very little room for error. The difference between being well beaten by Racing and pulling off a morale lifting win was probably three or four dropped passes or line breaks that fizzled out. IF passes stick early on and support runners get onto off loads then we can win comfortably tomorrow but we can just as easily lose by twenty-five points.

If I was a betting man.....I'd keep my money in my pocket.

The problem is that you could be describing Saints just the same as Glasgow.

Glasgow's biggest problem is going to be the novelty of playing on grass instead of mud, their pitch is shocking.

As I said before, I think Dickson was better against Tigers, I hope he continues to improve tomorrow. Hanrahan should suit the quick flat ball that Dickson can produced. Time will tell but looking ahead, I am looking forward to seeing Kessell, not seen him play before.